Empty veins

chapter 4

She leaped towards the man, disgust rising in her throat at the look of heroic idiocy that he had plastered on his face. She could not care less about how he shoved the pathetic red head away. She just wanted him.

"No!" A scream echoed through her, the voice of a male that seemed almost... familiar?

It didn't matter. She had to eat. She had to get revenge, her friend lying dead on the floor. Dead as in 'not coming back', she wasn't coming back this time. She was gone.

The man seemed almost startled when she reached him, his eyes widening slightly in shock, then acceptance. He smiled, his light burning brightly. And then it left with a single twist and blood and a crack and a thump. And then there was food and she was eating, shoving the sticky mess as quickly as she could into her. She must have it. And then it began to hit in, the warmth began to fight through her veins, kicking the cold into the darkest and far corners.

....

Tyler seemed to fall so slowly, each second passing at a tenth of the speed it should have done. The world still moved slowly as Dom began to fire, repeatedly, watching as the bodies began to pile up. Slow.

It was slow as the girl pulled away from his body, her eyes going wild.

Slow.

Dully, he realised that Mina was screaming, tears running down her face as she too began to fire, pain fuelling the bullets.

It had all gone wrong so fast.

And then there she was, the girl who'd stared at him, stumbling towards him, reaching out her hands to him almost pleadingly, Staring at him. The gun in his hand trembled. His finger danced against the trigger. Pull it! He was blindly aware of the others falling in mounds around the two. He just couldn't care anymore.

If that was the case, how could he not just pull the damn trigger?

His lips trembled, barely breathing as he stared at her. She stared back, blood tinging her mouth. Tyler's blood.

Still, he hesitated. And still he wanted to die for hesitating. She had killed him. Taken him.

He would cry later, for the future Tyler lost, for the baby that Tyler and Mina would never have, for the wedding where he would have been best man. The tears just wouldn't come.

He gritted his teeth painfully. "I'm sorry."

And then he spun, grabbing Mina with him, ignoring the low moan escaping from her parted lips. He didn't lift his head, he just ran on and on.

And the world began to crumble away from him until only the path was left, only him, Mina and Dom running down it. The world falling away from feet, till he was running through water, splashing through the river and collapsing on the bank and sinking into the mud.

"We've got to go back!" Mina began to shake Ryan, grabbing so hard that his shoulders began to bruise. "We need to get Tyler!"

"Give it up." Dom grabbed her shoulders roughly, pushing her back into the mud. "He's dead."

Mina's eyes widened. "No."

Ryan dropped back down into the mud, all the strength leaving his body.

"He's not dead."

"He is, we all saw it."

"Shut up!

"Mina, he's gone."

"He can't be." She pushed herself up slightly. "He can't die, he never said he loved me. He can't die until he says that. We were going to get married." Tears began to roll down her face, fast and unstoppable. Her eyes were widened as if she could still see him, standing in front of her. As if he had his hand out to pull her up and hug her and tell it was all going to be ok.

Ryan almost expected to see him when he opened his eyes. Tyler's presence had not left at all.

"We were going to get married." Mina muttered half to herself. "He said he wouldn't die being known as Tarantula. So, he can't leave."

Ryan lifted a hand to his face, covering his eyes. Tyler was such an idiot; how could he go and die on pizza day. He was such a jerk. They never got a chance to get smashed at 4 in the morning like they'd always planned on. He would never forgive Tyler for missing out.

Below him was a splash but Ryan was far too tired to even bother looking.

"Get off!" Mina screamed, spluttering the water.

"I'm not going to let you do that!" Dom's calm voice had been sent to the grave.

"There's no point in staying! I can't live without him."

"Mina." Ryan pushed himself up slowly, each movement harder than life. "You can't do this."

From the water, Mina looked down.

Ryan was by her side in a second, pulling her into a tight hug.

They sat like that until was dark around them, Dom standing next to them. It was funny that time still continued even when the world had faded away.

By the time they left, time had lost it's meaning, it too crumbling away.

And only three of them achieved the "I did."